Best wishes to people
retiring from city jobs
To the Editor:
To city of Syracuse retirees:

I would like to take this opportunity to thank each and every one of you who is retiring after many years of much appreciated service to our community.

As a longtime city employee myself, I know many of you personally and wish
you all the best in your future endeavors. Again, thank you and Godspeed.

Patrick J. Hogan
Councilor 2nd District
Syracuse

Death penalty neither
solution nor deterrent
To the Editor:
In response to Kim M. Battista’s Dec. 16 letter calling for the re-instatement of the death penalty, I’d like to say that it is a terrible idea and that I believe that, as Gandhi has said, “An eye for an eye makes the whole world blind.” This is not just an empty platitude but a deep truth I have learned in my life.

Several years ago, my own dear mother was killed, a victim of domestic abuse. I felt then a rage and an anger that I have never felt before. However, one thing was clear: the only thing I really wanted was to have her back, and the death penalty could not provide me with that.

In addition, I was aware that the family of the murderer would also have to go through the same grief, anger and depression that I went through. I believe that a life sentence is adequate. So I joined a group called Murder Victims Families for Reconciliation, which advocates for the repeal of the death penalty and is comprised of people who have lost family members to murder.

In my opinion, the death penalty is neither a solution, nor is it a deterrent. It is simply an act of revenge. We can do better than that as a society.

Aly Wane
Syracuse

New York wrong to cut
business tax credits
To the Editor:
Sales tax discounts or vendor collection credits have been abolished for some businesses. This came as a surprise to our small local business, which always took these in effort to keep costs down and stay competitive. We took the discounts/credits every quarter as normal, only to be billed a penalty and interest from this last quarter.

New York is getting more desperate and cunning. To take away this only hurts us all in the end.

Marc Zurbruegg
Jamesville

School district needs
concrete improvements
To the Editor:
Edward J. McLaughlin, former commissioner of education, wrote a direct, candid commentary on the Syracuse city schools (Dec. 16 letter). Yes, too many excuses, gimmicks, passing the buck, unanswered questions, unreasonable demands, vague bureaucratic decisions all dumped like the Syracuse snow dumped and made impassable by its concerned citizens.

Does Syracuse have a special hidden, secret garden for schools, police, and government that hides special thinking that is so awesome it cannot communicate its labyrinth maze of thinking to its citizens? I think not. There are no results, no positive forward movement.

Who or what will it take to get things going, to get results? To mitigate violence, crime, abuse, illiteracy, drug rings, poverty, school dropouts, etc.? It doesn’t take continued perpetuation of recycled nothing!

Leona Forbes
Syracuse

Hannibal militia plan
misguided endeavor
To the Editor:
Like the proverbial “bad penny” that keeps coming back, Jon Alvarez has once again inserted himself into the news. The latest story concerns his attempt to form a civilian militia of “like-minded individuals” to combat the alleged crime wave in Hannibal. I have listened to many of these people on his former radio show and I guarantee that the like-minded individuals who support him in this misguided endeavor are a collection of right-wingers that oppose taxation, a social safety net, public education, social programs and any form of gun control. In that regard he and his pals are “Beckerheads” who seem to parrot the mindless rants of Glenn Beck concerning the coming disaster that is “inevitable” as the fabric of our society unravels while they do all they can to unravel it.

This whole issue would be funny if its implications were not dangerous, as it is a thin line between a militia and a vigilante group. I’m sure that the last thing that our police need is an assortment of (armed?) mostly untrained (yes, Jon, I know you were in Iraq), right-wing activists roaming through Hannibal looking for a solution to an imaginary problem. While they do so, my friends on the left and I will continue to support our law enforcement agencies and society in general by voting for representatives who stand for reasonable gun control laws, support for our teachers and an extension of our social safety net with higher taxes when necessary.

Thomas Hanley
Fulton

Dysfunction, pride mar
departments’ efforts
To the Editor:
I read your Dec. 16 editorial about fire department response times, and you are right: the data says little about whether fire dollars are well-spent. The answer is: that depends on where you are!

Many of the problems start with the leadership of the fire service. In many instances, department officers lack human resource training; they can put out a fire in house, but they can not settle a disagreement in their own station. Our county fire coordinators come from this same crop of fire department managers and they carry the same issues to a higher level.

The problem that nobody wants to acknowledge is that the fire service in Onondaga County is limping along due to the weight of too much pride and dysfunction and has become its own worst enemy setting itself on a course of self-destruction. We could improve our system financially and operationally if we operated like a fire service should with designated engine companies, truck/ladder companies, and rescue/squad companies. We need to set some sort of standard for developing chief and line officers not only in fire ground operations but human resource training to develop a better overall operation.

It is time for us to take a step outside the box and think about the people who pay for this service and provide them the service they need and not what we want to deliver. But with everything else that has been ruined in our state, I am sure politics will win out and the status quo will continue.